Money or Love

Posted at 7:36 PM, 6/6/2006 in Short Stories

Grace didn’t give the mail a second thought as she dumped the pile on the table. It had been a long day and what she really wanted was a hot cup of coffee, and maybe a chocolate biscuit or three.

It wasn’t until the twins were in the bath that she sorted the envelopes into categories and came across the plain white envelope. G. Harris, 114 Merrian St, Wintergarden. The handwriting was unfamiliar and the postmark smudged. There was no clue as to where it came from or who had sent it. Maybe it was for Graham. He had only been gone a couple of months. Should she send it over to his new apartment?

‘Mummy, Mummy!’ Simon stood in a puddle of water, tugging at her sleeve. ‘All the water’s gone. Sally did it!’

‘Did not!’ Sally joined her brother making the puddle even bigger.

‘Did too! Did too!’

‘All right! Enough! Mummy’s had a busy day and she’s very tired.’ Grace took a big breath and silently counted to ten. ‘It doesn’t matter who pulled the plug out, it’s done. Now up those stairs and let’s get you dry and into pyjamas.’

After several stories and the usual requests for drinks, Simon and Sally were finally down for the night. Grace sat at the kitchen table, writing cheques. If she timed things right, her pay should cover them all, with just a little to spare. So much for Graham’s support for his children. The monthly pittance didn’t stretch that far.

Grace picked up the white envelope again and held it up to the light. Disappointingly the envelope was too thick for her to see anything.

‘This is silly, Grace. Just open it. It’s for you anyway.’ Grace thought aloud. ‘Just you’re luck, it probably a chain letter.’

A neat little packet fell out of the envelope. Inside were ten fifty-dollar bills. Grace double-checked the sheet of paper the notes had been wrapped in. It was totally blank.

It wouldn’t have been from Graham; he needed to see the relief in Grace’s eyes when he handed over any money. Grace wrapped the money up again and put it back inside the envelope. Who did it come from? And what was it for?

Grace always loved a good mystery but they were usually the ones she got from the library. Could someone she knew have taken pity on her single parent situation and was afraid she would refuse a financial hand? Or was it something more sinister? She instantly banished the thought. It was either Graham’s in some shady deal or it was some kind of fairy godperson.

Grace put the envelope in the hatbox in her wardrobe. If Graham asked for his mail, she would say she opened it by mistake and put it away for safe keeping. If he asked why she hadn’t rung him about it, she would say she never liked to ring him at work. And if she rang him at the apartment, she might have to speak to the almost teenage Gabby. Or maybe, she would just say there wasn’t any mail.

With her job being so busy, and the twins being such handfuls, Grace had little time to ponder the mystery of the envelope money. Graham didn’t ask about mail so he obviously wasn’t expecting any envelopes with large amounts of cash inside. In fact, he told Grace that business was so slow he wouldn’t be sending any money this month. Of course, Gabby wasn’t one to scrimp on anything so Grace could just imagine where her children’s support money was going.

Three days later, another envelope arrived. Just a little bit paranoid, Grace took it upstairs and opened it on her bed, with the door closed and curtains drawn. Once again there were fifty-dollar bills wrapped in plain white paper. This time there were fourteen.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Grace compared the two envelopes. The postmarks were different but the handwriting was definitely the same. As Grace studied them with Simon’s magnifying glass, she discovered both envelopes had been recycled.

The original name and address must have been written on a sticky label, and after peeling it away, her name and address had been written in the space. Was the sender saving the cost of a stamp by reusing the old one? Or had the envelopes been hand delivered? The very thought sent a shiver down her spine.

Grace now had over a thousand dollars in her wardrobe. She was tempted to spend some of it on new clothes for all of them. Goodness knows the children could both use some new shoes! She was tired of having to fill the radiator every time she drove the car so getting it fixed would be high on the list too. No one would be the wiser if she kept her spending small and ordinary.

The twins were strapped into the back seat of the car, which now ran like a dream, drinking their first ever store-bought chocolate milks. There was a mountain of groceries to be unpacked and Grace wasn’t even a little concerned about how she was going to fit it all into the cupboards; they had been pretty empty for a while.

As she drove down towards the house, Grace noticed a man she didn’t recognise near her letterbox. Was he delivering another plain envelope? When she pulled up in front of the house next door, he jumped away from the box and walked quickly down the street.

Grace waited until he had disappeared up the lane before she drove into her own drive. There was no plain envelope with the mail but Grace was sure the stranger had something to do with them.

Over the next month, there were four more envelopes. She had seen the stranger twice, both times walking away from her house. And both times, there was an envelope in the letterbox. The amounts varied but it was never less than five hundred, and once there was nearly five thousand.

‘Could this be counterfeit?’ She asked herself for the hundredth time as yet another bundle of cash was added to the stash. The notes all looked real enough and no one had questioned them at the shops or garage.

‘Grace. Grace.’ The voice calling her name broke through her thoughts.

‘Oh, hello Mrs Sumner. I’m sorry. I was miles away.’ Grace took the book and library card from the old lady’s out-stretched hands. ‘Is it only one book this week?’

‘Yes, thank you dear. Are you thinking about that poor unfortunate man from number four? Such a terrible thing to happen in our street.’ Mrs Sumner was a bit of a gossip and loved to have a chat. Grace had no idea what she was talking about and, seeing it was already time to pick up the twins, she didn’t really have time to find out.

‘Yes, terrible.’ She replied quickly, making a show of checking her watch. ‘Is that the time already? I’d love to stay and chat, Mrs Sumner but I really must get going. The twins get so upset if I’m late picking them up these days.’

‘Of course dear, off you go. It must be hard raising those darlings alone. That father of theirs should be horsewhipped for deserting you all.’

Grace nodded in agreement as she dashed out the door. She was only a few minutes late but the twins hugged her extra tightly.

‘We thought you weren’t coming, Mummy.’ They wailed. ‘Just like Daddy.’

‘Well Mummy isn’t like Daddy. I’ll always be here.’ Grace tried not to put Graham down but sometimes she could just throttle the man. ‘After dinner we’ll go to the park for a swing, okay.’

The street was blocked off with blue checked tape and several police cars. Grace had to show her licence to prove she was a resident before they would let her though.

‘Maybe I should have listened to Mrs Sumner’s gossip for a bit.’ Grace thought as she drove slowly though the crowd gathering around the townhouses.

Her end of the street was quiet and after dinner, she took the twins down to the park as promised. Most of the neighbourhood was out in the street and everyone was talking about the man from number four.

‘I heard he was killed by the mob.’

‘Stole some money from ‘em, he did! Thousands of dollars he was supposed to be laundering.’

It was difficult to tell if the talk was true or just people voicing their own ideas.

‘Well, it’s such a pity about the gardens. Unit one always had the best gardenias in the street.’

Listening to the chatter, Grace suddenly had a very awful thought. It couldn’t be! She called the twins and they walked home, careful not to attract too much attention.

She put the twins to bed and retrieved the hatbox from the wardrobe. It was still quite full. The envelopes were bound together with a hair ribbon just like love letters. Some love letters!

The more envelopes she looked at, the more convinced she was that they had been delivered to the wrong address. The second number one was actually a slash, but having been written on the roughed-up part of the envelope, it could easily have been mistaken for another number one.

So the correct address was 1 / 4 Merrian Street, the murder victim’s address!

Grace felt her heart skip a beat. What if the killers figure out what happened and come looking for their money? They had to get away from Wintergarden!

The ringing phone cut short her frantic thoughts. It was Graham.

‘I need you to move out of the house. Gabby’s pregnant and we need the room.’

‘What about us? What about your other two children?’ For all his faults, Grace never thought Graham would ever throw them out on the street.

‘The house is in my name too, Grace. And if you don’t do what I want, I’ll go for custody too. After I’ve finished with you, no court would give you custody of a budgie! You’ve got a week!’

With the dial tone bleating in her ear, Grace hung up and sank into the sofa. Where would they go? She suddenly remembered her aunt and uncle in the country.

‘Oh Grace, your Auntie May is airing out the spare rooms as we speak.’ Uncle Jack’s booming voice told her it would be all right.

The next day Grace gave her notice at the library, blaming the stress of single parenthood, and receiving a glowing reference and a week’s pay.

‘I hope you and Gabby are very happy.’ She muttered under her breath as she dropped the keys off to Graham at his office.

She made another stop on the way out of town; the local charity accepted the hatbox without question. What a surprise they would get when they opened it!

Life got a whole lot better for Grace and the twins. The locals had really warmed to the Douglas’ niece and the twins were thriving in the country air. Grace worked some shifts at her uncle’s café and one of the eligible men had taken a real interest. She found herself falling for Michael Pickering’s easy manner.

‘Mob Strikes Again!’ The newspaper headline struck deep in Grace’s heart. Getting paler with every word, Grace read about another murder in Merrian Street, a double murder. Was it a coincidence that all three victims had the same initial and last name? the newspaper asked.

‘I suppose you have an idea about why this happened?’ Uncle Jack pushed a strong coffee across the café counter. ‘Want to talk about it?’

Between sobs, the whole story came out. When she looked up, Grace met the eyes of both her uncle and aunt. They nodded understandingly.

‘What about the baby?’ whispered Grace. ‘There’s no mention of it.’

‘I’ll find out. Don’t you worry about it any more.’

On the outside she appeared her normal self, if a little preoccupied. Inside however, Grace was tormented by the though of Graham and Gabby’s baby.

News came swiftly. Apparently one of the killers had been caught. They hadn’t believed the two victims when they swore to know nothing about any money, and decided to end it once and for all. Grace sighed with relief; her and the twins were safe. No one was going to come looking for them. The baby, Graham Jr, was being cared for by Social Services, as relatives hadn’t yet been found. If no family came forward soon, he would be put up for adoption.

‘I’m going to adopt Graham’s baby.’ Announced Grace at dinner the following night. ‘After all, he is the twins’ half brother. That makes us family, doesn’t it?’

‘Don’t do it out of guilt, Grace love. You’ll only regret it later and that wouldn’t be fair to you or the kids.’

Grace knew Michael spoke out of love and concern for her but she was determined to go ahead with her plans. She just hoped it wouldn’t upset his more obvious plans for her family.

Social Services were very surprised to hear from Graham Harris’ ex-wife. Seeing no family had come forward, they sent a social worker to visit Grace.

‘Why would you want to adopt the son of your ex-husband and his second wife?’ The question was innocent enough. ‘We understand the divorce wasn’t exactly pleasant.’

‘This doesn’t have anything to do with them, or me. Graham Jr is half brother to my twins. Regardless of Graham’s behaviour, I think his son should be with family.’ Just managing to keep her hands steady as she cleared the empty cups away, Grace held her breath as the social worker wrote down everything she said.

‘I won’t promise anything but I can’t see why Graham wouldn’t be placed in your care.’ The social worker closed the file. ‘You’ll hear from us soon.’

Michael watched Grace closely as they waited for the department’s decision. While he loved Simon and Sally like they were his own, he wasn’t sure if adopting another one was such a good idea. Actually he would have liked Grace and him to have one of their own.

‘You know I’ll support you with this adoption thing. But on one condition. Marry me, Grace. Let’s be a real family for Graham Jr.’

‘Can I think about it?’ Grace never expected to remarry but Michael was everything that Graham hadn’t been. He would make an excellent father and the twins adored him. And she suddenly realised how much she adored him too.

Once again, in the space of a few months, Grace found her life changing. Social Services supported her adoption of Graham Jr, due largely to the twins’ blood ties. And her impending marriage to Michael.

As the mild spring evening faded, Michael waited in the garden with their family and friends. Grace, dressed in a loose flowing gown, walked up to him and just as he was about to kiss her, she whispered in his ear.

‘Just how do you feel about four children?’